Cujo
by SkyeAedus
Summary: Cujo was only a puppy, and some people don't seem to understand what, exactly, being a ghost implies. (Two-Shot)
1. Chapter 1

The puppy whined weakly. He wasn't sure what had gone wrong. Something must have, somewhere along the line; he was cold, and it was dark, and the tiny forms of his brothers and sisters had stopped wriggling. He still didn't know what any of them had done.

He felt like something was missing.

He was used to things being… not good, but not too bad either. He and his family would obey orders and would be fed. If one of them didn't do as they were told, they didn't get to eat or play. That was how it was, but considering the fact that the orders were the same day to day, it could have been worse. His parents explained to him what to do, sort of. He just had to follow their lead, and he had.

So why had the humans flung him and the other dogs out into… wherever this was? This cold, dark, cramped place?

He wished humans were nice to dogs. Maybe that was the something missing.

He was stirred from his thoughts by an increase in light. It was a slight difference, but accompanied by the creak of whatever had been above his head, it was enough to rouse him to awareness. The little brown puppy lifted his gaze weakly towards the darkened sky, and instead saw a human.

This human was smaller than the other humans he had seen, and its face was doing something different. There were tears welling up in its eyes, as if it had some sort of sickness (like his littlest sister once had). It pawed gently at the still bodies of the other puppies, then zeroed in on him and lifted him from the cold place.

To his dismay, the cold feeling didn't go away. He had been hoping it would fade, like the hunger that came before it, but it felt like it was only getting stronger.

The puppy felt a dull flash of fear when the human pulled him in close to its fabric-covered chest, but it died off after a moment when he realized that the human was being careful with him. He didn't understand why, but this human was being nice to him. The puppy sighed heavily, relaxing into the loose grip.

The human began murmuring something, sounds that the puppy didn't recognize from the orders of other humans. These words were soothing, though the puppy wasn't sure they were supposed to be. The human's voice was high pitched, and the words were going faster than Cujo was used to hearing them. Then again, he couldn't be sure; his hearing was starting to go all fuzzy, for some reason, and the cold in his bones was overwhelming.

For a fleeting moment, the puppy wondered if the human would want to play with him when he was feeling better. All he needed was his toy.

Oh, was that the thing that was missing…?


	2. Chapter 2

"Get your ectoplasmic ass back here, you mangy mutt!"

The Red Huntress zoomed through the sky on her hoverboard, in wild pursuit of an unfortunately familiar bundle of glowing green fur. Hey guns were drawn and her teeth were bared in righteous fury against the vermin that had been the cause of everything. It was about time for her to exact her revenge on the dog, just like she had been trying to with the owner.

But the little scrap of ectoplasmic energy just wouldn't stay still!

"Ugh, stop running around!" Valerie roared, firing at the green dog. She missed again, searing through a street sign. "Sit! Stay! Play _**dead!"**_

The ghost did not stop. It continued scampering down the street as if it was a normal puppy in all but coloration, driving the Huntress' rage to new heights.

Eyes narrowed in concentration, the Huntress called up her biggest guns and fired. She grinned victoriously as the blasts bore down on the dog, sure to run him down-

"Cujo!"

The pint-sized ghost abruptly changed direction and the blasts collided violently with the street, cratering it. Valerie pulled her hoverboard to a screeching halt (which was impressive since it still managed to shriek while in midair) and stomped her foot, before turning to see where the scum had run off to. Much to her unpleasant shock, the dog was being cradled in the arms of a human, and a familiar one at that.

"Hey, buddy, it's okay. It's alright, Cujo." Danny Fenton cooed at the thing in his arms, tickling it behind the ears before looking up at her. His blue eyes were alight with something Valerie didn't recognize, especially not on his face. She didn't like it, whatever it was.

She brushed it off, though, in light of the danger Danny was putting himself in. "Hey, kid. You know that's a ghost you're holding, right?"

"He's a dog," Danny responded shortly, clutching the fuzzball closer, "And he wasn't doing anything wrong, as far as I can see. In fact, Huntress, you seem to be more dangerous than him at the moment."

Valerie felt her face heat up as her temper rose. "I was trying to catch the stupid ghost! That thing has ruined lives, and if you let it near you-"

"Cujo is just a puppy! He came to play fetch."

"Look, Fenton," Valerie snapped, almost physically restraining herself from calling out her guns again, "I don't care. I wouldn't care if that ghost was the cutest damn thing to exit the Ghost Zone. The mutt is a menace, like all other ghosts!"

Danny's face twisted into something less detached and more upset. If his eyes were any brighter, she might say they were glowing. "You don't know anything. Do you even know where he came from, or why he's a ghost? Do you know why he came back the first time!?"

"No, and I already said that it doesn't matter! Why do you care so much about that damned dog anyway-?"

 _"Because he's_ _ **mine!"**_

Valerie fell silent, freezing in place. That couldn't be right, the mutt was Phantom's! "No, it isn't. Your parents are ghost hunters, and you're terrified of ghosts!"

"Sure, I am. But Cujo is still my dog. He has been my dog since I found him in the dumpster where he and the other guard pups from Axion were thrown when they became obsolete. He was the only one alive when I found them, did you know that? The poor thing was left to starve and freeze! Yet he survived long enough for me to find him."

Valerie's arms had gone limp at her sides as her hoverboard drifted closer to the ground. Danny had her complete attention, and she couldn't help but think that his words had some truth in them. The tears beginning to squeeze their way onto his flushed cheeks might have been a factor in that.

"I was horrified when I found him. He still had the Axion tag on his collar - it's still there now - so I knew he wasn't there by accident. I was gonna take him home to warm him up, to feed him, to do something, anything to help him… But he was already so cold and weak by the time I found him. He didn't make it halfway there."

With a start, Valerie realized she had never actually considered the fact that ghosts used to be normal living beings before they were ghosts. The ghost dog was once a normal puppy. The pesky ectopi that liked to wander the town at night might have once been normal sea creatures. And even the ghost boy… What did that change, though?

"I think I'm the reason he became a ghost in the first place," Danny continued with a sniffle and a half-hearted chuckle, "Since I was probably the first human to try to take care of him. At first, he seemed like he was searching for something, but after the trouble at Axion, he just sort of started showing up to play."

Danny wiped his face awkwardly on the shoulder of his shirt, trying not to jostle the green pup dozing off in his arms. After a long, shaky breath, his watery blue eyes meeting Valerie's green through her mask.

"Huntress, can you understand what I'm trying to say? Cujo never did anything wrong to deserve to be tossed into that dumpster. He never did anything to deserve death or hatred. He is just a dog who wanted to find his precious thing from life and share it with someone who showed him that not all humans are the bad guys."

Valerie looked away from his steady, resolute gaze. She heard him sigh heavily before footsteps sounded.

"Nothing is as simple as you think it is, Huntress. I've been wanting to say that for a while, and I hope that it makes a difference."

The Red Huntress had a lot to think about.


End file.
